Africa-Press – Ghana. Economic Advisor and Director, External Economic Relations at the Vice President’s office, Evron R. Hughes has issued a statement seeking to school Randy Abbey on taxation.
The release which details taxes reduced or abolished by the President Akufo-Addo government since taking over from the erstwhile Mahama administration comes on the back of the argument between the Good Morning Ghana host and Dr. Kabiru Mahama, an advisor in the Vice President’s Office on April 13.
During his recent lecture on the state of the economy, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, affirmed the Government’s record in fulfillment of its promise to shift the focus of fiscal policy from taxation to production.
In his speech, the Vice President listed eighteen (18) instances of tax reduction or abolishment, the majority of which were implemented in the first year of President Akufo-Addo’s government.
Last Wednesday, the declaration by the Vice President fueled an argument when Randy Abbey challenged the facts after Dr. Kabiru Mahama used it as a reference for his submission on the Good Morning Ghana show. Reacting to that argument, Evron R. Hughes has noted in a statement that Randy Abbey is confused about the nature of taxes.
“Randy Abbey seems to be confused about the nature of taxes, how they are imposed and collected, and their impact. The key ingredients of taxes are the product or service the tax is imposed on, the tax rate, and the tax incidence, i.e., the distribution of the tax burden along the production-to-consumption chain (who pays and what proportion). By itself, the generic descriptors of taxes, such as Value Added Tax (VAT), are of less importance as the coverage, rate, and incidence,” parts of the statement from the Economist at Bawumia’s office read.
According to him, Randy Abbey’s boisterous proposition might make for a good political soundbite, but it flies in the face of the basic principles of taxation.
He concludes, “GMG remains an influential platform for informed debate on public policy and it is my hope that Randy will take the next available opportunity to correct his clearly mistaken view in light of this brief.” Find below a graph attached to the statement from Evron R. Hughes detailing the many taxes reduced or abolished by the ruling NPP government.
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